Paying attention may be one of the most fundamental and important cognitive abilities we have. It’s too bad, then, that many of us are so bad at it. It’s not only our outer distractions that get the better of us – email, texts, Twitter – but even worse can be the internal ones: Mind-wandering is a major problem for a lot of people, and there are few effective solutions for it. A wandering mind can lead to a host of negative effects, from reduced productivity to rumination to cycles of negative thoughts. And like a wandering mind at work, a wandering mind at school – or, worse, during major tests like the GREs – can be a particular problem. Luckily, as a new study has just reported, taking a short class on mindfulness do a lot to focus the mind and boost one’s scores.